Let's talk about replacing GWBush in 2004.

Sounds like a whole new--and very interesting--topic. I was going to ask you to provide me some actual citations, and offer to follow up with some that have reached a very different conclusion, but lets not do that in this discussion. Please create a new discussion with your premise--that trickle-down economics has been discredited (or however you wish to word it)--and I'll meet you there!

A Better President?
There is but one replacement in America, better equipped by experience of running the country, the White House and speech-making, than George W.

Martin Sheen, of course. After all, it worked for Reagan - and he had never even played the President before getting the job.

Nancy Reagan appeared on NPR devastated by recent political
statements made by hollywood actors saying "Didn't any of those
stars learn anything when Ronnie was elected President?" "He set
an 8 year example of hollywood actors ineptness and just plain bozo tom-foolery at running a government, fortunately he is back to his old self now but there were a few years there when i was sure he was nuts." Following Nancy's appearance, Martin Sheen said he "would never ever speak politic again" adding "i should have remembered Ronnie before i ventured into white house madness"

I think we saw true Ronnie Rayguns style B acting just the other night as baby Bush acting out a scipt from his B rated movie/press conference. It fell completely apart in over night ratings - too stiff, appear main actor was on drugs and repeating lines from prompters!

John Webb, WELCOME to A2K. c.i.

Bill -- Weren't you stunned by the robot-like Bush in that press conference (not to mention the robot-like performance of the press)? Local "constitutionalist" radio* taped the whole thing. They have been playing it over and over again, and the more one hears Bush, the more he sounds like someone from Planet Uh-Oh.

*Anti-Bush, anti-liberal, anti-war, anti-FEMA, anti-UN + "globalists"... these guys are pursuing every lie they can find in the administration and in mainstream media and are STUNNED that anyone believes anything whatsoever that Bush says -- which makes them very enjoyable to listen to!

It was very Hitler like! I except this would be the way one of Hitler's press conferences went. It is sad!

It IS sad. When a "press conference" consists of a president basically repeating canned responses whatever the questions were, it is sad. It wasn't that relevant questions weren't asked, it's just that he chose not to answer them, favoring instead to repeat the same robotic catchphrases.

When asked why he thought so much of the world and of his own countrymen disagreed that there was reason to invade Iraq, Bush simply said "they'd come around". When pressed several times for a reaction to the undeniably strong opposition to his views about this war, he acted as if he didn't hear, or maybe didn't understand the question, but he never addressed it other than to say he "appreciates a country which allows dissent".

On a show called "On the Story" with all female journalists this morning, one reporter asked another how frustrating it was for questions about such pressing concerns to be so casually glossed over. the person asked the question, unfortunately was a Bush press aide, and she avoided directly answering the question, as well.

I only hope this world endures the blow about to be dealt to it without too much carnage that could have been avoided by pursuing disarming Sadaam peacefully. I also hope that in 2004 we remember how much of this man's presidency was invested in this war.

snood, This president is putting future administrations and the American people into hawk for many years to come with his war on Iraq. These billions he is spending on this war will be paid by future admnistrations and congress, leaving little room for helping the American people with our own needs. How much more damage can a president do? c.i.

How about ruining all our diplomate allies! For those who think that he didn't ruin the relationship with Blair - think again. Blair is gone as the PM of GB - guaranteed!

The Three Faces of Dubya



Oh God, make the pain stop. Please.

Watching Bush stutter and lie on national TV is a painful, painful experience. I'd rather have my gums scraped than watch Bush speak. Anything at all than watching this man smirk his way through a so-called press conference. Watch as Bush doesn't answer the question! See Bush repeat the same things over and over again, hoping the next time, someone with an IQ above 80 will actually believe him! Hear Bush snort and huff in that open-mouthed way that witless people do! Feel your own intelligence drop while you watch!

It's just awful. It almost makes me feel sorry for him. I think Bush believes what he says, and I know he is carefully cocooned and screened away from anyone who would tell him otherwise. "Yes, Mr. President." "Right away, Mr. President." "Of course, Mr. President." I saw a wretched, small man speak to the nation the other night. A man who would rather be almost anywhere but where he was, putting up a brave front for the guys pulling the strings, trying to believe in his small, binary way that he could actually making the world safer, if he praised God just a bit more, if he pressed just a little bit harder.

Soldier on, Dim Son. Keep on believing against all evidence or even logic that all it takes is a somber tone, some evasive answers to softball questions, that little hunch arm thing you do when you want to appear incredulous, and a smirk to convince the world of your folly.

I'll keep burying my head in my pillow, pretending that the world isn't going to hell in a handbasket.

Who knows? Maybe we'll both be right.

Just posted this elsewhere, PDiddie, but here it is for you, to add to your comments, above:

American Prospect's online commentator allows as how he "was reminded of this late last night while watching a portion of a re-run of the president's remarks. We were particularly struck by the look of the president's face as he walked toward the podium. He looked like a man who was about to enter an oral exam he hadn't prepped for. Our first thought was that the hallway down which he walked seemed entirely too long and that whoever set the speech up needed a dressing-down. Rather than bounding forward in a few short steps, he looked like someone about to walk a plank -- a man steeling himself in his own mind against what comes next. But it wasn't the fault of the hallway, it turned out; it was the president himself. His words rang flat and hollow, and in his eyes you could see the seeds of fear and doubt. Or perhaps it was a trick of the light and some unusual camera angles. Indeed, one camera cut away from the familiar visual box in which the president, looking presidential, delivered his remarks, to a side shot of the man. Suddenly, we could see the president from the side, nearly from behind, a small American man grasping a podium before a crowd of his seated, unconvinced, countrymen, and behind him, the vast empty space of an ornately decorated room.
Last night's speech was utterly unmemorable. If it is recalled at all in future years, it will be as a Wizard of Oz moment where the curtain was pulled back and the all-powerful figure toward whom people have looked for guidance was revealed to be just another middle-aged man in a suit, standing forlornly in a large and empty room.
No wonder Andrew Sullivan called the briefing "a mistake." But where Sullivan blamed Bush's poor performance on the stress of the impending war, Tapped can think of another reason our president has begun to look defeated, exhausted and less than certain of his own actions. Yesterday, Quinnipiac College released the first poll since Bush was elected showing that if the next presidential election were held now, Bush would lose. Only 44 percent of those polled supported Bush, compared to 48 percent who said they'd prefer an as-yet-undetermined Democratic candidate." http://www.prospect.org/weblog/

Tartar, From your link, I was able to see how GWBush is ready to decimate Medicaid for the poor. When considered from today's vantage point where more people are losing their jobs, it reveals how heartless a man GWBush really is. He's ready to bulldoze anything in the way on his march to war with Iraq - it seems. The other article about GWBush's statement of some form of revenge against Mexicans if they don't vote their way on the UN resolution is frightening at best. He's managed to lose friendships with many of our international friends, but to threaten Mexico shows how arrogant and damaging this president really is to our country. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/06/opinion/06COHN.html c.i.

Is It Still Safe To Travel Overseas?
For generations and during the Clinton era, Americans were usually welcomed warmly in most parts of the world and normally knew that personal safety was never in doubt.

Is this true today? Surely, Presidential invasions and international opposition are turning America and her citizens from the most popular into the least popular in world opinion?

And what is the Bush-generated 'fear factor' doing for business and, in the longer-term, jobs - aside from weapons manufacture?

Come back Bill. All is forgiven.

John Webb, The great irony of all this is the fact that Bush supporters are losing jobs by the thousands, and they still support his war with Iraq. I'll never be able to reconcile that one in any rational way. c.i.

I don't know for sure, but judging from my experience with European friends, there is no animosity towards Americans in general but a great deal towards Bush & Co -- corporate "Co". What I have found is a kind of incredulity that their American friends could allow this to happen -- an incredulity I share with them.

"The great irony of all this is the fact that Bush supporters are losing jobs by the thousands, and they still support his war with Iraq. I'll never be able to reconcile that one in any rational way. c.i." Tell you what I think it is -- no Bush supporter wants to admit he rented a wreck. DAMN FINE CAR. JUST LOVE IT! OKAY SO THE TAILPIPE JUST FELL OFF -- SO WHAT? WHAT ARE YOU, AGAINST AMERICAN CARS OR SOMETHING???

Now, what they'll do in the voting booth is something else. What do I think? I think if the Republican party had the gall to put up a moderate candidate, he (she) would win hands down.

Tartar, We thought we were renting a Ford, but got a Rolls Royce. We'll never be able to pay the lease in two years of his administration. c.i.

Any truth in this picture? c.i.

What does it say?

"bombing for peace is like fu*king for virginity."